Saturday, March 18, 2023

Convincing Convictions: Worshiping Like You're At The Footy

 


You might think this picture is taken of a worship service at a church, as people gather to declare their praise and devotion to the Living God.


I wish I could say you were right.


In my twenties I worked as a supervisor in a bar on the top level of Marvel Stadium, a huge 55,000 seat multi-level sports stadium in the heart of Melbourne, Victoria. On a rainy day or at night time, they would close the roof to make it a fully enclosed space. My bar was on the top level, so we got the full effect of the roaring crowd escalating and echoing through the arena. They had plastic chairs with spring-loaded seats, and so before the roar there was this inimitable 'clack' as tens of thousands of seats slammed shut as once, sounding like the sudden and monstrous downpour of hail as the crowd leapt unanimously to its feet.

This happens regularly at sporting stadiums around the world.

It's more than just noise.

It's the sudden expression of a collective will so passionately pronounced that is has an actual physical effect on the environment. Studies have shown that home teams win between 60-70% of the time. When the home crowd cheers their team's performance lifts, when the home crowd jeer the opposition's performance drops.

And all this over a bunch of (usually) overly-muscled fellas running around in shorts too small for them while chasing something not much more sophisticated than a pig bladder. 

But we do love our footy don't we?

I'm not saying don't love your footy, but it does raise a question.

If the collective expression of joy at a football match affects physical outcomes, how much might the collective expression of joy in a worship service affect spiritual outcomes?

What if we had the same raw energy and unabashed vibe going on in church halls on a Sunday morning around the world — what effect might that have?

In Psalm 34 the worship leader issues a call to worship and then says something interesting: "Let us magnify the Lord together!"

I have experienced this, where God becomes more present and moves powerfully in those settings. Which Dallas Willard comments is inevitable because God is a person and persons generally show up where they're wanted and feel welcomed and valued (The Divine Conspiracy).  

The Bible tells us to worship joyfully, but we cannot force joy and we cannot let our feelings determine our worship.

Luckily, God is a joyful being and his joy is far greater than anything we can conjure up by ourselves. 

Joyful worship is about receiving God's joy, more so than about bringing your own joy.

Our feelings follow our focus.

God looks joyfully on his worshipers and as they turn their gaze to him they will begin to reflect his own joy back to him.

We are to come to worship with whatever we are feeling, whether it be anger or sadness or boredom, and as we focus on God our feelings will gradually shift.

Again: our feelings follow our focus.

It is not something to be forced, but something that naturally arises as we focus on and allow ourselves to be moved by God.

And how can we not?

If we can celebrate passionately and spontaneously over our team kicking a goal at the footy, leading (perhaps) to a possible victory in a game on earth, how much more should we celebrate over the victory already won on our behalf by Jesus Christ in heaven?

After all, if you follow Jesus, you have been brought out of the dominion of darkness and into the kingdom of the Son he loves! (Col 1:13).

Isn't that worth a cheer?

Jesus the Christ, which means the anointed one, the long-awaited God and King who was promised  through the thousands of years of Old Testament history, came to earth, decisively defeated the powers of death and evil, and rose victorious from the dead bringing the first of the new creation (1 Cor 15:20).

Isn't that worth a hurrah?

Jesus the Son of God, now in heaven with God the Father, lavishing upon you that same power that raised him from the dead, the Holy Spirit, to equip you, empower you, and restore you to your full humanity (Rom 6:10).

Isn't that worth a fist pump?

Jesus, whom we know is returning one day to bring the redemption of all things, who invites us to dwell with him in the age to come, living forever in the full presence and glory of God in a renewed creation (Isa 65:17; Rev 21)

Isn't that worth a roar?

These are the things we sing about each week yet some people seem completely unmoved by them.
They claim: "I'm worshiping in my mind."

Imagine if a footy team kicked a winning goal at the last minute and tens of thousands of supporters just sat there, silently thinking, "Yes! Good kick!"

It would be an eerie silence indeed. 

An unconvincing conviction. 

The Bible says to worship expressively using our bodies, to sing, clap, and make a joyful noise (Psa 100).

I say let's bring on worship like we barrack at the footy.

I say let's be convincing about our convictions.

Cheers and shouts and claps and all of it.

A whole-hearted spontaneous roar as the People of God proclaim and declare his goodness and victory.

After all, the Bible says that when Jesus returns, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord (Phi 2:10).

Let us be doing it already, in anticipation and joy of that day.

(insert actual fist pump here) 




Friday, March 3, 2023

DIY-gods, Voltaire, & Snapchat

DIY-gods, Voltaire, & Snapchat

"If you could create your own God, what would he be like?"

This seemingly innocuous question hung in the air that day, and a look passed between the theology students who comprised the class. A haughty look that said something like this is a master’s degree not a kindergarten class!

"Imagine Bunnings are having a special on their god-products this week. You go there on Saturday morning(admit it – you just want to grab a snag on the way in!)attend a DIY class, then buy all the parts you need and go home to make your god. What would it look like? Be like? What sort of character would it have? What would it demand of its worshipers?"


Students grudgingly formed into groups and began to quip about the question like cats toying with a mouse. Soon though, it became apparent that this mouse had teeth. Disagreements arose, voices grew more passionate, tails lashed. Some sat back mystified, doubt crept in.


The question is harder to answer to than you might think.


The god-who-loves-everyone-and-there’s-no-such-thing-as-hell type god began to look less attractive in the light of Hitler and child slavery. 


On the other hand, the wrathful-ruling-autocrat-with-armies-of-righteousness type god began to look less attractive in the light of one’s friends and relatives who had not grasped the message of Christ. 


If you could create your own god what would he/she/it be like?


Before you say this conversation is pointless I say to you is it? 


After all, our culture is one step ahead.


Voltaire shrewdly said: “In the beginning, God created man in his image, and man has been trying to repay the favour ever since.”

The god-who-affirms-all-your-feelings-and-impulses is currently on the throne of our secular society, lavishing absolute affirmation on its worshipers (you do youand absolute damnation and contempt on everyone else (you’re cancelled!)


With or against. Total affirmation or total damnation.


And the Christian community wonders where they got such an idea. 

We even do it on an intra-Christian basis.

 

I mean, have you ever actually listened to one of those my-way-or-the-highway-type Christians? The sort who sets themselves up as an absolute authority on everything Biblical and then hails anyone who sees things differently as a – ahem – heretic? (The fact they use the word is not only embarrassing for the rest of us but speaks volumes about their own worldview).


I don’t really blame them though, it’s human instinct. 


When the disciples saw someone healing in Jesus’ name who wasn’t part of their group they wanted to fry the dude with fire-balls from heaven. Jesus waved off their concern: if they’re not against us, they’re for us. 


It seems that Jesus was a whole lot less concerned about the exact nature of their ministry than many Christians are today. Or maybe Jesus just wasn’t Reformed enough (with a capital R). Maybe he should’ve rained the fire-balls.


I must admit this is the kind of god I argued for in class that day: one who would just decisively do the job on the spot and get it all wrapped up. No loose ends. Job done.

I quickly saw that my DIY god would be about as successful as any other DIY project I’ve ever tried (just ask my wife)!


My guess is that I would make a terrible god, and that the real one probably knows better than me. 


But I still grapple with the Ascension. Why play the first two sets of a gig – the most difficult ones – then not come back for the third one when the audience is primed and ready to go? 


Jesus must have his reason for his (thus far) 2,000 year set break, hanging in the green-room with God the Father, sending the Holy Spirit to give us a hand while we flounder away on stage making our idols.


I mean, when Jesus was in his resurrected form in first-century Jerusalem, why didn't he forego the next couple of millennia of human misery, hang around a while longer, and just close shop? Send out some of first century AD Snapchat about what was happening, give everyone the chance the see and respond (before the picture disappears) then do a quick head count and sort out the sheep and goats right then and there? New creation. Sin eradicated. A glorious new world.


I can't claim to have the answer, and I'd be wary of someone who reckons they do. 


I'll hazard a few guesses nonetheless:

  • I guess it’s got something to do with grace (2 Tim 1:9).
  • I guess it’s got something to do with the joy that exists amidst the misery (Rom 5:1-5).
  • I guess it's got something to do with the tares among the wheat (Mat 13:24-30). 
  • I guess it’s got something to do with not wanting to override our free will (Mark 8:34). 
  • I guess it’s got something to do with his love and his will that not one would perish (2 Pet 3:9).
  • I guess it’s got something to with the true nature of love—not as blindly affirming but as wholly redeeming (1 Cor 6.

So on the nature of God and his plans, as with the nature of breathing air, I suspect that understanding matters less than simply accepting, seeking, and getting with the task he's set before us. 


The Bible is God's revelation to us of his character and plans.

Everything we need to know.

We need to start reading it more and creating God in our image less.


After all, he’s God we’re not.